Rensselaer Semi-Weekly Republican, Volume 20, Number 56, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 17 March 1899 — Mighty River. [ARTICLE]

Mighty River.

The Amazon, in South America, is the largest river on the face of the globe, and—according to Professor Agassiz—is 160 miles in width at its mouth. The distance from the source of the Amazon in the Andes to the Atlantic Ocean is 2,000 miles in a direct line, but by the course of the river nearly 4,000 miles. The Amazon drains an area of 2,500,000 square miles (ten times the area of France), and in connection with the river and its tributaries, there are said to be 50,000 miles of navigable waters, one-half of which is suitable for steam navigation by large vessels. The number, length, and volume of the Amazon’s tributaries are in proportion to its magnitude. More than twenty superb rivers, 1,000 miles and upwards In length, pour their waters into it and streams of less importance are numberless. At the junction of the Yucayll with the Amazon, a line of fifty fathoms does not reach the bottom, and in breadth it is more like a sea than a river. The longest tributary, the Madeira, has a length of 2,000 miles.